Hyderabad, Telangana, India, January 2026 — Sonoco, a global leader in consumer, industrial, healthcare and protective packaging solutions, has appointed Shilpa Kankaria as Head of Human Resources, further strengthening the company’s leadership team as it advances its people and culture agenda. In this role, she will play a critical part in aligning HR strategy with business priorities, enabling organizational growth, and reinforcing a strong people-first culture across the enterprise.
With Sonoco continuing to evolve its global operations and strengthen its talent and leadership architecture, Shilpa’s appointment reflects the company’s focus on building future-ready people practices—anchored in culture, capability, and performance. She will be expected to partner closely with business leaders to drive workforce effectiveness, leadership depth, engagement, and a high-performing, inclusive culture aligned with Sonoco’s long-term business direction.
Before joining Sonoco, Shilpa served for over three years at Hexagon R&D India as Head – Human Resources Business Partner, where she shaped and executed people strategies for a 2,200+ employee R&D center. Her remit spanned succession planning, leadership and talent development, organization design, culture building, engagement, change management (including M&A integrations), workforce planning, and attrition management. She also spearheaded the organization’s DEI charter, ERG initiatives, and employer branding programs, while mentoring and leading a team of HR professionals to deliver measurable business impact.
Prior to that, Shilpa played a pivotal role in setting up and scaling the XPO Global Technology Center in Hyderabad as Site HR Lead. In this capacity, she drove GCC build-out priorities including talent strategy, culture embedding, leadership depth, capability development, and end-to-end HR partnership for technology functions—combining strategic HR leadership with hands-on execution during a key transformation phase.
Shilpa also spent nearly nine years with ADP, progressing through roles including Senior Manager – HR, where she partnered with senior leaders to drive organizational agility, transformation, and performance across global teams. She led enterprise HR transformation initiatives across Latin America and Asia-Pacific, strengthened HR analytics, redesigned processes for improved decision-making, and contributed to policies and frameworks impacting 10,000+ employees, building deep expertise in large-scale change delivery and global stakeholder management.
Earlier in her career, she worked at Accenture as an HR Business Partner, supporting a workforce of ~800 associates in technology and services verticals, and began her corporate HR journey with the Tata Group as Assistant Manager – HR, where she contributed to talent management, leadership development, Hi-Po programs, competency frameworks, and campus hiring strategy.
With a career spanning HR strategy, GCC build-outs, global transformation, DEI, talent leadership, and culture shaping, Shilpa Kankaria is well-positioned to contribute meaningfully to Sonoco’s continued evolution and long-term success.
About Sonoco
Founded in 1899, Sonoco (NYSE: SON) is a leading global manufacturer of consumer, industrial, healthcare and protective packaging, serving many of the world’s best-known brands. With 19,000+ employees across 34 countries, Sonoco delivers integrated packaging solutions designed to enhance product quality, brand experiences, and sustainability outcomes. Guided by its purpose—“Better Packaging. Better Life.”—Sonoco remains committed to sustainable products, services, and community impact initiatives.
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